Surf City’s Montgomery Ward is gone

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The Montgomery Ward building before demolition on Thursday. Windows had been boarded up at the department store that has been closed since 2001.

A wiring junction box, one of a few that wern't stolen by scavengers for its copper wire, sits in a pile of metal to be recycled as workers from the Wentz Group started the demolition of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today, the final piece of the 1960's era mall to come down.

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Still intact, the back loading dock area of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach is framed by fence before the final demolition. A spokesman for the Wentz Group performing the demolition stated the building will be gone in a week.

A demolition worker drives a bobcat carrying a steel beam through the rubble at the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today. The store is the final piece of the 1960's era mall to come down.

Looking like a metal dinosaur, a giant backhoe pulls down a piece of the second storey of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today, the final piece of the 1960's era mall to come down.

Workers from the Wentz Group construction company started the demolition of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today, the final piece of the 1960's era mall to come down.

A pile of red brick taken from the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach will be recycled and used for land fill at the site for the new development. The building is the final piece of the 1960's era mall to come down.

Montgomery Ward was founded in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward as a mail-order catalog business, according to the company. The company later opened retail stores nation-wide and became a prime retailer in the U.S. The company closed all of its stores by 2001 and now operates strictly as an online catalog retailer. The Huntington Beach store has been shut down since 2001 and was demolished Thursday to make room for the Village at Bella Terra, a development that will include housing and retail.

A worker from the Wentz Group construction company cleans up the dust from the demolition of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today, the final piece of the 1960's era mall to come down.

Tom Meyer from the Wentz Group construction company pulls an old banner down from the wall of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today, The demolition of started today for the final piece of the 1960's era mall.

The old Montgomery Wards building at Bella Terra will be made over soon in to the Village at Bella Terra which will include some residential property as well as a Costco. The Register takes a look at the state of the property's current condition.

Tom Meyer, project superintendent for the Wentz Group Workers construction company, watches a giant backhoe knock a hole in the wall of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today, the final piece of the 1960's era mall to come down.

The Montgomery Ward building behind the Bella Terra development is the last major building to be torn down that was a part of the 1960s Huntington Beach Mall. Although hidden behind the newer and thriving Bella Terra Mall, the building still stands out as a deteriorating eyesore.

Workers from the Wentz Group construction company use a giant backhoe to start the demolition of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today, the final piece of the 1960's era mall to come down.

A worker uses a cutting torch on a piece of steel beam in the scrap pile of the Montgomery Ward building at Bella Terra in Huntington Beach today. The building, built in 1965 is the final one of the 1960's era mall to come down.

Demolition crews are still working on clearing the deteriorating department store that has been shut down since 2001. The building is the last major department store from the 1960s-era Huntington Beach Mall.